Electronic publication system

ABSTRACT

A system and method for modifying publication data in a publication system are described. An example embodiment includes receiving proposed publication data and accessing a success measurement associated with past publications within a publication system. The success measurement may indicate a measurement of success associated with the past publications. An example system and method may generate modification data to be used to modify the proposed publication data. The modification data may be based on the success measurement and proposed publication data.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priorityto U.S. application Ser. No. 13/247,798 filed Sep. 28, 2011, which is acontinuation of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. applicationSer. No. 11/869,290 filed Oct. 9, 2007, which claims the prioritybenefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/942,897filed Jun. 8, 2007 and which applications are incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD

Embodiments relate generally to an electronic publication system andmethod. More specifically, example embodiments are related topublications describing items in an electronic publication system.

BACKGROUND

The Internet may be described as a network of network nodes thatcommunicate via various transmission media. The use of informationcommunicated over the Internet varies but the information is sometimespresented to human beings at a user interface as language or images.Internet communications may be used to carry out electronic publicationsystems such as an electronic marketplace.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by way oflimitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in whichlike reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network publication system in accordancewith example embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method in accordance with anexample embodiment for generating modification to modify publicationdata;

FIG. 3 continues the flow diagram illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a further method in accordancewith an example embodiment for generating modification to modifypublication data;

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a system according to an exampleembodiment, using a client-server architecture;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating multiple commerce and paymentapplications in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 7 is an table-relationship diagram in accordance with exampleembodiments;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating relationships amongstmodification applications in accordance with example embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating information flow amongst entitiesin accordance with an example electronic publication system; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system in accordancewith example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

A method and system for modifying publication data are disclosed. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe present subject matter. It will be apparent, however, to one skilledin the art that the present subject matter can be practiced withoutthese specific details.

In an electronic marketplace, a proprietor may facilitate transactionsbetween a seller and a buyer. Some providers of information (e.g.,sellers) wish to help unite their information with those members of theInternet who seek it (e.g., buyers). As used herein the words“information” and “data” may be used interchangeably.

One technique for uniting a member of the Internet with informationinvolves providing an interface for a user to describe the informationthat the user would like to retrieve (e.g., using a search or browseinterface). In this technique, information providers may predict theuser's description and associate their prediction with the particularset of information that is thought to be what the user desires. However,different users may each use different and unrelated information (e.g.,words) to describe a single entity or concept (e.g., an item for sale).As a result, a user may search or browse but not find the information ordata he or she seeks.

In general, a method and system are described for providing modificationdata to modify publication data. Members of a publication systemcommunity (e.g., publication originators, sellers, etc.) may classifyitems that are the subject of publications. A publication may be relatedto a published item and include publication data (e.g., attributesand/or other information to be provided in a publication, etc.) used todescribe the item. An item may be any tangible or intangible thingand/or or something that has a distinct, separate existence from otherthings (e.g., goods, services, electronic documents, organizations,ideas, philosophies, religions, and/or any other item, etc.)

The success of a description or classification of an item may beindicated by the community's behavior (e.g., positive or negative)related to the classification. With a flow of feedback from thecommunity, a publication system may provide classification modifications(e.g., recommended and/or compulsory) for proposed publication data.

Example embodiments described herein disclose an electronic publicationsystem (e.g., an electronic search engine, electronic library,electronic classified advertisement publication system, marketplace,etc.) to generate modification data and recommend or mandate thatpublication originators (e.g., sellers) and/or publication queriers(e.g., buyers) use the modification data. The recommended or compulsorymodification data may be used by publication originators in formulatingdescriptions of items (e.g., offered for sale) for publication, in aneffort to make the descriptions more readily locatable by publicationqueriers. Publication queriers may use the modification data to bedirected to a publication within the electronic publication system.

In an example embodiment, item records are accessed from an item table.The item records include information, describing items, that are thesubjects of publications (e.g., posted on a webpage to be accessed bythe public) in an electronic marketplace. The item records may alsoinclude an indication of whether particular items have been sold orotherwise transacted via the marketplace. The descriptions associatedwith successfully sold items may be considered to be successfuldescriptions that should continue to be used to describe the successfulsold item. In an example embodiment, after receiving an item identifier(e.g., a title and a category) from a publication originator (e.g., aseller) wishing to publish information about an item, applicationsprovide modification information that may be used to describe thepublication originator's item. In an example embodiment, themodification data is the result of a computation based on the itemidentifier and the item records that are associated with successfullysold items.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration,specific embodiments that may be practiced. In the drawings, likenumerals describe substantially similar components throughout theseveral views. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail toenable implementation by those skilled in the art. Other embodiments maybe utilized, and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be madewithout departing from the scope of the present invention. Moreover, itis to be understood that the various embodiments of the invention,although different, are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example,a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in anembodiment may be included within other embodiments. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense,and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appendedclaims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claimsare entitled.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented interms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on databits within a computer system's registers or memory. These algorithmicdescriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled inthe data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance oftheir work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, andgenerally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operationsleading to a desired result. The operations are those requiring physicalmanipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily,these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capableof being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwisemanipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasonsof common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements,symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the followingdiscussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present description,discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or“calculating” or “determining” or the like, may refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system's memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

Example Embodiments

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic publication systemor network publication system 100 in accordance with exampleembodiments. The electronic publication system 100 may support thepublication and distribution of information.

The electronic publication system 100 is shown to include networkdevices 101, 103 and 105 communicatively coupled to one another via atransmission medium 102. It is to be appreciated that various exampleelectronic publication systems 100 need not be coupled to a network tosupport the publication and distribution of information. Some exampleelectronic publication systems may include one or more electronicdevices from which a user may directly and in person access and viewinformation or to which a human user may directly and in person enterinformation (e.g., via physical interfaces such as a mouse, keyboard,display screen and/other any other user interfaces).

Users (not shown), may use the network devices 101, 103, 105. A user maybe a human being, software, electronic hardware, or any other form ofuser, etc., that uses the electronic publication system 100 to publish,search, access and/or view published information and/or buy or sellitems associated with published information. An example user includes apublication originator (e.g., a user that submits publication data toprovide content for a future publication).

The network devices 101, 103 and 105 may include any electronic devicethat processes information according to a list of instructions and/orthat implements logic using hardware, software or a combination thereof.In an example embodiment, the network devices 101, 103 and 105 arecomputers each including a central processing unit (CPU) to manipulateinformation. The network devices 101, 103 and 105 may include inputoutput (I/O) ports (111, 113, 115, 117) to provide an interface betweenthe network devices 101, 103 and 105 and the transmission medium 102 andto enable the network devices 101, 103 and 105 to receive and/ortransmit information to and/or from the transmission medium 102. Thetransmission medium 102 may be any medium suitable for carryinginformation between the network devices 101, 103 and 105. Exampleembodiments may include combinations of transmission media that havevarious physical forms and collectively form an overall physicaltransmission medium (e.g. a combination of optical fiber, wireless, andtwisted pairs coupled by routers, switches and/or other network devices,etc.).

The network devices 101, 103 and 105 may communicate with other networknodes (not shown) coupled to the transmission medium 102 using variouscommunication protocols. In example embodiments, the network devices 101and 103 may communicate over the transmission medium 102 using 10gigabit Ethernet, Internet SCSI (iSCSI), Fibre Channel, and/or any otherprotocol compatible with other network nodes.

The storage module 109 may be operative to store all types of dataassociated with the electronic publication system. An example storagemodule 109 may store publication data, success measurements, demand dataand other information, etc.). One or more success measurements(described in more detail below) may be associated with a publicationfor an item. The storage module 109 may be implemented with hardware,software or a hardware/software combination. An example storage module109 may be a main memory to store information (e.g., organized into datastructures) and is made accessible to the modification module 107 of anelectronic commerce server (e.g., the network device 103).

The modification module 107 may be operative to modify publication data(e.g., data used in publications to describe items) with modificationdata. In an example embodiment, modification data includes a variety ofinformation that is substantially similar to publication data and mayinclude attribute names, attribute values, keywords, categories, titles,search terms, browse paths and other descriptive information, etc. Thecollection of information and the generation of modification datadescribed with respect to the modification module 107 may be implementedwith hardware, software or their combination.

An example modification module 107 may compute modification data, accessinformation stored within the storage module 109, receive informationfrom users via the network devices 101, 105 and the transmission medium102, and cause information to be transmitted to users via the networkdevices 101, 105 and the transmission medium 102.

A success measurement module 104 may be operative to measure levels ofsuccess related to the electronic publication system 100. A successmeasurement may be an indicator of a publication's level of success. Thelevel of success of a publication may indicate how well or how poorlythe publication was received by a community of information consumers(e.g., users), how accessible (e.g., easily locatable) the publicationwas to the community of publication queriers, or the level reaction oractivity related to the publication by the community of publicationqueriers. The level of success of a publication may be affected by howwell an item, which is the subject of the publication, was described byall or a part of the publication. In an example embodiment, a level ofsuccess depends on whether a publication originator providingpublication data for a publication engages in an interaction associatedwith the publication, with a publication querier. An example interactionmay include a financial transaction.

Example success measurements may be referred to as demand data. Demanddata may include, an indication of whether a particular item was sold, ademand measurement may register sales for individual items, the numberof times a particular item was viewed on a webpage by potentialbuyer(s), the number of times a particular item was added to a watchlist by potential buyer(s) or the search term(s) and/or browse path(s)used by potential buyer(s) to find a particular item. A browse path maybe defined by categories and/or attribute name-value pairs (discussed inmore detail below).

An example embodiment of the network device 103 may facilitatetransactions between users and thus may be able to track publicationsthat are associated with interactions (e.g., viewing of item listings,successful transactions, sale of items, etc.) between a publicationoriginator (e.g., a seller) and a publication querier (e.g., a buyer).

In an example embodiment, the electronic publication system 100 includesan electronic marketplace 100 that further includes items offered forsale, sellers, buyers (e.g., operating from network nodes 101, 105) anda market proprietor (e.g., operating from network device 103). Themarket proprietor may facilitate finding, buying and/or selling ofitems. Items may include goods and/or a services published, located,bought and sold in an electronic marketplace. Descriptive data for anitem in an electronic marketplace, such as publication data ormodification data, may include titles, categories, category identifiers,attribute names, attribute values, keywords, and other publication dataassigned to an item.

The users may include sellers and buyers. A seller may be a user of theelectronic marketplace 100 who offers items for sale and sells items viathe network device 101 (e.g., a personal computer). A buyer may be auser of the electronic marketplace 100 who shops for items via thenetwork device 105 (e.g., a personal computer). A buyer need not buy anyitems and may be referred to herein as a potential buyer. A buyer whoactually buys an item may be referred to as an actual buyer. In anexample embodiment, a potential buyer (e.g., a buyer) may search foritems of interest and/or finds items of interest and an actual buyer isone who may have purchased items of interest in the electronicmarketplace 100.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 200 in accordance with anexample embodiment for generating modification data to modifypublication data. In an example embodiment the method is executed withinthe network device 103. The method 200 starts at processing block 202with receiving proposed publication data (e.g., second publication data,which may include an item title, an item itself, or other itemdescriptors, etc.).

In an example embodiment, a seller (e.g., a second publicationoriginator) via the network device 101 (e.g., a home computer, laptop,handheld device, or any other network device, etc.) provides theproposed publication data to the modification module 107. The proposedpublication data, which may include a title and a category, may describean item (e.g., a second item) that the seller wishes to sell and isassociated with a publication (e.g., a second publication) that has notyet been published in the electronic publication system 100.

At block 204 the method 200 continues with, (e.g., the successmeasurement module 104) generating a success measurement (e.g., demanddata or a demand measurement) based on past publications (e.g., thefirst publication data) and storing the success measurement within thestorage module 109. The past publications may describe published items(e.g., listings for goods in an online marketplace) and the successmeasurement may indicate a measurement of success associated with thepublications (e.g., a number of times users searching for an item foundthe item via a certain publication).

In an example embodiment, the storage module 109 stores the pastpublication data and demand data (e.g., the first demand data) that maybe accessed by the modification module 107. The demand data may includea demand measurement that registers interactions (e.g., salesfacilitated by the network publication system) associated with the pastpublications and between the seller (e.g., the publication originator)and the buyer (e.g., the publication querier).

The method continues at processing block 206 with (e.g., themodification module 107) accessing the success measurement (e.g., ademand measurement) associated with the past publications (e.g., thefirst publications).

At processing block 208 in FIG. 3, the method 200 includes (e.g., themodification module) generating modification data (e.g., the firstmodification data) that is to modify the proposed publication data. Themodification data may be based on the success measurement (e.g.,measuring the success of the past publication data) and the proposedpublication data.

An example modification module 107 may generate modification data (e.g.,the first modification data) with which to modify the proposedpublication data (e.g., the second publication data). In an exampleembodiment, the modification data is based on the demand data (e.g.,that measures demand related to the past publication data) and theproposed publication data.

The modification module 107 may provide, via the transmission medium102, modification data to a user (e.g., a seller and/or a buyer) on anetwork device 101, 105. The modification data may be offered to helpthe user describe an item (e.g., in the seller's publication related tothe item) in a way that may improve the probability that the publisheditem will be transacted (e.g., a positive interaction between seller andbuyer).

In an example embodiment, the storage module 109 stores multipleinstances of past publication data, and the demand data (e.g., the firstdemand data) includes demand measurements that register at least oneinteraction associated with instances of past publication data. In anexample embodiment, the modification module 107 uses the multipleinstances of past publication data and the demand measurements togenerate the modification data. The demand measurements may registerfinancial transactions (e.g., a sale of an item described in apublication), queries (e.g., a search and/or a browse path used tolocate a publication), viewings of a publication, assignments of apublication to a monitoring list or any other interaction related to apublication that may indicate a demand associated with the publicationor the subject matter thereof

In an example embodiment, past publication data for successfully solditems is used in generating the modification data. In this exampleembodiment, past publication data for un-sold items is excluded from thegeneration of the modification data. Past publication data includingwords that describe successfully sold items may be more likely to becommonly used by buyers and sellers to describe an item. When thesewords (and e.g., other associated words) are used as publication data todescribe the items, the items may be more likely to be associated with asuccessful transaction and/or to be found by a buyer, etc., after theitems are described with the words in a publication.

Block 210 in FIG. 3, (e.g., the modification module 107or e.g., otherprocessing logic) may include assigning a proportional weight to theinstances of past publication data or the demand data or both. Such anassignment of the proportional weight may control a corresponding levelof effect on the resulting modification data.

The modification module 107 may assign a proportional weight toinstances of the past publication data and/or a portion of the instancesof the past publication data in generating modification data. Themodification module 107 may also assign a proportional weight to thedemand data and/or a portion of the demand data (e.g., instances ofdemand measurements) in generating modification data. Portions orsubsets of the past publication data may include descriptive informationconcerning successfully sold, un-sold and/or other status, etc. items.Portions or subsets of the demand data may include search, browse, view,assignment to a list to be monitored (e.g., a watch list) and/or othernavigational or user action information concerning items. In an exampleembodiment, the modification module 107 may assign 70% weight to pastpublication data describing successfully sold items and 5% weight tothat describing un-sold items; as for demand data, a 5% weight tosearches made (and e.g., subsequent views and watches) and 10% weight tobrowse paths followed (and e.g., subsequent views and watches) for eachitem.

Block 212, (e.g., the modification module 107) relates the modificationdata (e.g., the first modification data) to the proposed publicationdata (e.g., the second publication data) as a recommended replacement, arecommended supplement, a compulsory replacement or a compulsorysupplement. In some example embodiments, the modification module 107generates the modification data for association with the proposedpublication data as metadata. Metadata may be descriptive (e.g., aclassification, color or other description of the subject matter, etc.)of the subject matter that the proposed publication data describes.Alternatively or additionally, the metadata may be descriptive of theproposed publication data itself (e.g., its length, language or otherdescription of publication data, etc.). An example modification module107 may modify the proposed publication data by including themodification data within the proposed publication data.

In some embodiments, words offered by sellers as proposed publicationdata are not randomly selected but are considered appropriate todescribe an item because a certain number of sellers and/or buyers wouldtypically and/or customarily use the words to describe a particularitem.

The proposed publication data (e.g., offered by the seller) may relatein various ways to the past publication data and demand data within thestorage module 109. The greater the correspondence between the proposedpublication data and the past publication data, the stronger amodification data may be generated. Stronger modification data mayequate to a higher probability that the item that is to be publishedwill be associated with certain interactions (e.g., a successfultransaction, finding an item and/or purchasing a published item) betweena publication originator and a publication querier, after being modifiedwith the modification data and published. In an example embodiment,correspondence between the proposed publication data and the pastpublication data increases with the quantity of information used todescribe an item with proposed publication data and/or with the qualityof the past publication data used to generate the modification data. Thequality of the past publication data may be measured with the demanddata (described above).

A seller who submits a relatively large quantity of publication data(e.g., descriptive text or words) to a modification module 107 and usesrelatively high quality past publication data may receive relativelystrong modification data.

At block 214, the method 200 may detect a level of correspondencebetween the proposed publication data and the past publication data. Thelevel of correspondence may correlate with the probability that theproposed publication will be associated with an interaction (e.g., asecond interaction or a successful transaction, or other interaction,etc.) between the publication originator (e.g., the second publicationoriginator or the seller who submits the proposed publication data) anda publication querier (e.g., the second publication querier or a buyersearching for an item listing) after modifying the proposed publicationdata with the modification data.

In an example embodiment, the greater the number of words offered asproposed publication data by a seller to describe an item, the greaterthe chances that the existing or past publication data (e.g., storedwithin the storage module 109) shares a word in common with the seller'sproposed publication data. The modification module 107 may associate thewords common to past publication data and proposed publication data withother descriptive words and recommend the other descriptive words todescribe the item.

Past publication data may include name-value pairs that associate nameswith values. In an example embodiment the past publication data includesthe name-value pairs: name=title, value=30 GB Video iPod Black andname=category, value=MP3 Players>Apple>30 GB.

In an example embodiment, sellers provide name-value pairs to themodification module 107 as proposed publication data. A seller whoprovides the name-value pair: title=30 GB Video iPod Black, may receiveweaker modification data than a seller who additionally provides thename-value pair: category=MP3 Players to the modification module 107. Inthis embodiment, the seller whose proposed publication data more closelycorresponds with the past publication data may receive stronger (e.g., amore useful or more effective) modification data. In this embodiment,the quantity of publication data (e.g., proposed by the seller) mayaffect the strength of the modification data.

At block 216 in FIG. 3, the method 200 generates multiple instances ofthe modification data (e.g., the first modification data) and providesthem (e.g., to the seller or publication originator) in an orderaccording to the probability that the proposed publication data (e.g.,the second publication data) would be associated with an interaction(e.g., the second interaction or a successful transaction, etc.) if theproposed publication data were modified with each instance of themodification data and published.

A seller may wish to create and publish a listing for an item and mayprovide a title and category describing the item to an onlinemarketplace via a user interface. An example method for making arecommendation to a seller may include receiving the title and categoryto describe a item.

The online marketplace may then determine whether any other items withinthe online marketplace correspond (e.g., are described by the same orsimilar title and/or category) to the item described by title andcategory provided by the seller.

In an example embodiment, determining whether there is a correspondenceincludes measuring a level of similarity between title and categorydescription of the seller's item and an item already in the onlinemarketplace. If a corresponding item is found and the corresponding itemhas been purchased in the past, the system may select other words usedto describe the corresponding item (e.g., a description describing thesecond item). The selecting of the description may also be based on thefrequency that the corresponding item has been viewed, bid on, or addedto a monitoring list, etc., since it has been in the online marketplace.

The system may then recommend the selected description to the seller tobe used to describe the seller's item. In this embodiment, the qualityof the past publication data (e.g., the description of the correspondingitem) may affect the strength of the modification data (e.g., therecommendation).

As described above, past publication data may include name-value pairsthat define attributes of an item. In an example embodiment, an item maybe associated with several name-value pairs (e.g., defined by a selleror by recommendation). Analogous to the generation of modification datadescribed above, the modification module 107 may provide top rankednames and/or values for the item based on the past publication dataand/or the seller's proposed publication data and/or the demand data. Aportion of the highest ranked names and/or values may be made availableto publication searchers, browsers and/or sellers listing their items.In an example embodiment, the modification module 107 both ranks andprovides the ranked instances of modification data to the seller.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a further method for generating modificationdata, in accordance with an example embodiment. The method 400 starts atblock 402 with (e.g., the modification module 107) receiving a query.

Referring to FIG. 1, the network device 103 may include an interface toreceive the query from a publication querier (e.g., the thirdpublication querier) and to forward the query to the modification module107. The query may be to locate subject matter that is associated withor related to the items described by the past publication data (e.g.,the first publication data) and/or the proposed publication data and/orthe first modification data.

At block 404, the method 400 (e.g., the success measurement module 104)may generate at least one success measurement (e.g., the second demanddata) associated with past publications (e.g., the first and secondpublications) within the publication system.

In an example embodiment, the second demand data includes the firstdemand data (e.g., the second demand data includes success measurementassociated with the past or first publication data) and is to include asecond demand measurement that registers an interaction (e.g., thesecond interaction, e.g., a financial transaction) between an earlierquerier (e.g., the second querier, e.g., a buyer searching for an itemlisting) and the publication originator (e.g., the second publicationoriginator, e.g., a seller posting a listing), if the second interactionhas occurred. At block 406, the method 400 may access the successmeasurement (e.g., the demand measurement) that may be located withinthe storage module 109, in an example embodiment.

At block 408, the modification module 107 may generate modification data(e.g., the second modification data) with which to modify the query. Themodification may be based on the success measurement and the query. Asdescribed above, an example success measurement may include a e.g.,second demand measurement made on proposed publication data (e.g., thesecond publication data) modified e.g., with the first modificationdata. The modification data may be offered in the form of a search termor a browse path to help a querier or a buyer describe a desired item ina way that may improve the probability that a published item will belocated and/or purchased.

The modification data generated for a query may be generated andprovided analogously to the modification data used to modify proposedpublication data, which is described in detail above.

The modification data may be based on input in addition to pastpublication data, demand data, proposed publication data and queryinformation. At block 410, may include receiving flag information from aparticipant of the publication system and storing it in the storagemodule 109. The flag information may indicate that an erroneousdescription has been made of a published item (for example in the firstor second publication). Mischaracterized items may have been describedwith publication data such that typical (e.g., average) sellers andbuyers would not associate the publication data with the actual item tobe sold.

At block 412, the modification module 107 may access the flaginformation from the storage module 109 and at block 414 generatemodification data (e.g., the first or second modification data) furtherbased on the flag information.

Other embodiments can be accomplished by way of software. For example,some embodiments may be provided as a computer program product orsoftware which may include a machine or computer-readable medium havingstored thereon instructions which may be used to program a computer (orother electronic devices) to perform a process according to the presentinvention. In other embodiments, processes of the present invention maybe performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwiredlogic for performing the processes, or by any combination of programmedcomputer components and custom hardware components.

In an embodiment, the software used to facilitate the routine can beembedded onto a machine-readable medium. A machine-readable mediumincludes any mechanism that provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits)information in a form accessible by a machine (e.g., a computer, networkdevice, personal digital assistant (PDA), manufacturing tool, any devicewith a set of one or more processors, etc.). For example, amachine-readable medium includes recordable/non-recordable media (e.g.,read only memory (ROM) including firmware; random access memory (RAM);magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memorydevices; etc.), as well as electrical, optical, acoustical or other formof propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc.); etc.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a system 500, according to anexample embodiment, using a client-server architecture. A network-basedcommerce system 502 (e.g., a network-based commerce system facilitatingtransactions between multiple sellers and multiple buyers) providesserver-side functionality, via a network 504 (e.g., the Internet) to oneor more clients, such as a web client 506 (e.g., a browser, such as theInternet Explorer browser developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond,Wash. or the FireFox browser provided by Mozilla Corporation of MountainView, Calif.), and a programmatic client 508 executing on respectiveclient machines 510 and 512. An Application Program Interface (API)server 514 and a web server 516 may be coupled, and provide program andweb interfaces respectively, to one or more application servers 518.

The web client 506 may access the various commerce and paymentapplications 520 and 522 via the web interface supported by the webserver 516. In an example embodiment, the buyer using web client 506submits searches for items and browses the electronic marketplace foritems via the network 504 and the web server 516.

Similarly, the programmatic client 508 can access the various servicesand functions provided by the commerce and payment applications 520 and522 via the program interface of the API server 514. The programmaticclient 508 may, for example, comprise a seller application (e.g., theTurboLister application developed by eBay Inc., of San Jose, Calif.) toenable sellers to submit listings to the commerce system 502 and receiverecommended publication data in return.

The application servers 518 may host one or more commerce applications520 and payment applications 522. The application servers 518 may, inturn, be coupled to one or more database servers 524 that facilitateaccess to one or more databases 526. In example embodiments, themodification module 107 and the storage module 109 as described withrespect to FIG. 3 may be included within the commerce applications 520,the database server 524 and the databases 526.

The commerce applications 520 provide a number of commerce functions andservices to users that access the commerce system 502. The paymentapplications 522 likewise provide a number of payment services andfunctions to those users. While the commerce and payment applications520 and 522 shown in FIG. 5 form part of the network-based commercesystem 502, it will be appreciated that, in alternative embodiments ofthe invention, the payment applications 522 may form part of a paymentservice that is separate and distinct from the commerce system 502. Thevarious commerce and payment applications 520 and 522 can also beimplemented as standalone software programs with or without individualnetworking capabilities.

A third party application 528 executing on a third party server machine530 may also have programmed (e.g., computer-implemented) access to thenetwork-based commerce system 502 via the program interface of the APIserver 514. For example, the third party application 528 may, utilizinginformation retrieved from the network-based commerce system 502,support one or more features or functions on a website hosted by thethird party. The third party website may, for example, provide one ormore promotional, commerce, or payment functions that are supported bythe relevant applications of the network-based commerce system 502.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating multiple commerce and paymentapplications 520 and 522 that, in an example embodiment of theinvention, are provided as part of the network-based commerce system502. The commerce system 502 may provide a number of listing andprice-setting mechanisms whereby a seller may list items, e.g., goods orservices, for sale, a buyer can express interest in or indicate a desireto purchase such items, and a price can be set for a transactionassociated with the items. To this end, the commerce applications 520are shown to include one or more publication applications 602 whichpublish items for sale in the network based commerce system 502.Commerce applications 520 are also shown to include auction applications604 which support auction-format listing and price setting mechanisms(e.g., English, Dutch, Sealed First Price, Vickrey, Chinese, Japanese,Double, and Reverse auctions, etc.)

Store applications 606 allow sellers to group their listings within a“virtual” store, which may be branded and otherwise personalized by andfor the sellers. Such a virtual store may also offer promotions,incentives and features that are specific and personalized to a relevantseller.

In one embodiment, the network-based commerce system 502 may support,via internationalization applications 622, a number of commerce systemsthat are customized, for example, for specific geographic regions. Thus,a version of the commerce system 502 may be customized for the UnitedKingdom, whereas another version of the commerce system 502 may becustomized for the United States. Each of these versions may operate asan independent commerce system 502, or may be provided as customized (orinternationalized) presentations associated with a single commonunderlying commerce system 502.

Navigating the network-based commerce system 502 can be facilitated byone or more navigation applications 608. For example, a searchapplication may enable key word searches of listings published via thecommerce system 502. A browser application may permit users to browsevarious categories, catalogues, or inventory data structures thatoperate to classify listings within the commerce system 502. Variousother navigation applications may be provided to supplement the searchand browsing applications.

In order to make item listings available via the network-based commercesystem 502 as informative and visually attractive as possible, thecommerce applications 520 may include one or more imaging applications610 that can be used to upload images for inclusion within itemlistings. An imaging application 610 may also operate to incorporateimages within viewed listings

Listing creation applications 612 may allow sellers to author listingshaving information associated with selected goods or services that areto be offered for sale as part of transactions conducted within thecommerce system 502. These listing creation applications 612 may receiveoffer data associated with offerings from a plurality of potentialsellers. Listing creation applications may interface with themodification module 107 to communicate descriptive data such aspublication data and modification data.

The modification applications, which may form a part of the navigationapplications 608 and/or the listing creation applications 612, may beused to recommend names and values for a listing provided by a sellerusing the techniques disclosed herein. Modification applications 614 mayimplement example modification module 107. The modification applications614 may include an API. In an example embodiment, a seller passes alisting that includes a title and a category; the API may then returnmodification data called a “tag” that is a name-value pair for thesubject of the listing. The information in the listing provided by theseller and received by the API may (1) not have previously been storedwithin the network-based commerce system 502, (2) have been partiallystored within the network-based commerce system 502 or (3) havecompletely been stored within the network-based commerce system 502.Existing listings (e.g., completely stored within the network-basedcommerce system 502) may be referenced with category identifiers. TheAPI may return a complete tag (e.g., name and value) or a partial tag(name only). As described above, recommended name-value pairs mayincrease the probability that a buyer will find the listing.

Listing management applications 616 allow sellers to manage one or moreof the listings that may have been created using a variety ofmechanisms, including the listing creation applications 612 describedabove. The listing management applications 616 may provide a number offeatures (e.g., auto-relisting, inventory level monitors, etc.) toassist the seller in managing such listings.

Fraud prevention applications 618 may be used to implement various frauddetection and prevention mechanisms to reduce the occurrence of fraudwithin the commerce system 502. In an example embodiment, the fraudprevention application 618 receives “flags” from users that indicate aninappropriate description of a listing. An inappropriate listing may beone that is not readily recognizable by buyers or sellers as adescription of an item offered for sale. In an example embodiment, thefraud prevention applications 618 may form part of the listing creationapplications 612 and/or the modification applications 614. The flag, theassociated item and the listing may be stored to later be accessed bythe modification applications 614 in the generation of modificationdata.

Messaging applications 620 can be used to generate and deliver messagesto users of the network-based commerce system 502. Such messages may beused in some embodiments to deliver modification data to sellers andbuyers in response to a seller's proposed listing or a buyer's query.Messages may also be used to advise users regarding the status of itemlistings within the commerce system 502 (e.g., providing “you have beenoutbid” notices to bidders during an auction process or to providepromotional and merchandising information to users).

FIG. 7 is a high-level entity-relationship diagram, illustrating varioustables 700 that may be maintained within the database servers 524 anddatabases 526, and that are utilized by the commerce and paymentapplications 520 and 522.

The tables 700 include an items table 704 in which item records aremaintained for offerings, i.e. goods and services that are available tobe, or have been, sold, via the commerce system 502. Each item recordincludes offer data which includes seller identification data andoffering identification data that provides detailed information on eachoffering. For example, a description of the goods or service offered orsold (e.g., item title, keywords) may be provided, together with aphotograph or other information relating to the offering. Themodification applications may access the tables 700 to collect varioustypes of data related to items, as part of generating modification data.

One or more attributes tables 706 may be used to record attributeinformation pertaining to items for which records exist within the itemstable 704. Considering a single example of such an attribute, theattributes tables 706 may indicate a brand attribute associated with aparticular item, the brand attribute identifying a licensor ormanufacturer of the relevant item as specified by a seller. Otherattributes may include size, shape, color, construction material,country of manufacture, etc.

The category table 708 may be populated with categories with which itemsfor sale may be associated, and which buyers may use to search for itemsof particular interest. One example of a category is “clothing andaccessories.” Others, include, but are certainly not limited to:“computers and office equipment,” “motor vehicles,” and “toys.” Thecategories may be accessible in the form of a category listing tree,including sub-categories. To further the example, sub-categories for the“computers and office equipment” category may include, but are notlimited to: “laptop computers” and “desktop computers”. Leaf categoriesfor laptop computers may include, but are not limited to: “14” screen orsmaller” and “15” screen or larger.”

A transaction table 710 contains a record for each transaction (e.g., apurchase transaction) pertaining to items for which records exist withinthe items table 704.

An order table 712 is populated with order records, each order recordbeing associated with an order. Each order, in turn, may be associatedwith one or more transactions for which records exist within thetransaction table 710.

Bid records within a bids table 714 each relate to a bid received at thenetwork-based commerce system 502 in connection with an auction-formatlisting supported by an auction application 604. Bid data typicallyincludes item identification data, which may be obtained from, or linkedto, the items table 704. Bid data also includes a bid amount

View records within a view table 716 contain a record for each item inthe items table 704 related to the viewing activity of users. Watch listrecords within watch list table 718 contain a record for each item inthe items table 704 being monitored for future reference.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating relationships amongstmodification applications 614 and includes an item identificationreception module 810, modification engine 820, a weight assignmentmodule 830, a search engine component 832, a communication module 840and a ranking module 850. The item identification reception module 810receives a request from the potential seller that includes the selleritem identification (e.g., an item title that the seller proposes toassociate with the item for sale, such as “Grayco Baby Stroller”). Therequest may also include an identification of the seller site (e.g.,“North America,” or “United Kingdom,” or “SYSID0001”). If noidentification of the seller site is received, the identity of theseller site may be assumed by the system 502.

The weight assignment module 830 may then access past publication dataand/or demand data corresponding to the item identification in the itemstable 704. The past publication data and/or demand data subject to anypercentage weight assignment may subsequently be used to determinerecommended listing information that is most appropriate for the item. Asearch engine component 832 may be included in the weight assignmentmodule 830 to calculate the weights and to locate past publication dataand/or demand data throughout the system 502 associated with theseller's item identification. In an example embodiment, the searchengine component 832 retrieves past publication data and/or demand datafrom tables within the databases 524, 526 in FIG. 5 (e.g., FIG. 7, itemstable 704, transactions table 710, orders table 712, bids table 714,attributes tables 706, category table 708 and/or other tables thatinclude information to be used in the computation of modification datacomputation, etc.). The search engine component 832 may comprise anynumber and type of search engines known to those of skill in the art.

In an example embodiment, the modification engine 820 operates to usethe seller's item identification and past publication data fromsuccessfully sold items (e.g., stored in the item table 94) to generatemodification data. The relative strength of the modification data may becalculated by processors included in the system 502 to identify themodification data best suited to describe the item.

The communication module 840, which may form a part of the messagingapplications 620 (shown in FIG. 6), may be used to communicate requests,or parts of requests (e.g., the item identification, such as the itemtitle; and the seller site identification) to the item identificationreception module 810. The communication module 840 may also be used toreceive and communicate modification data (as provided by themodification engine 820) to the seller, from which the seller maychoose. The modification may be displayed in histogram form, asdescribed in more detail below.

Thus, referring now to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8, in some embodiments, a system502 may include an interface (e.g., as part of the web server 516 or theitem identification reception module 810) to receive requests includingseller item identifications, and perhaps identifications ofcorresponding seller sites. The interface may comprise a networkcommunications interface, such as a computer, a server, or a networkinterface card, either wired or wireless.

The system 502 may also include one or more modules (e.g., such as aranking module 850 shown in FIG. 8, perhaps included as part of theapplication server(s) 518) to calculate rank histograms corresponding tomodification data communicated to a seller.

In some embodiments, the system 502 may include one or more databasecomponents, including tables (e.g., the tables 700 shown in FIG. 7 whichmay be stored and accessed as part of the database server(s) 524 and/ordatabase(s) 526 of FIG. 5). The system 502 may also include a searchengine component (e.g., search engine component 832) to locateinformation about items stored in the tables mentioned above.

Various parts of the system 502 may be used to store different types ofdata. For example, in some embodiments, the system 502 may have one ormore servers (e.g., database server(s) 524 in FIG. 5) that include theitem information (e.g., past publication data and/or demand data). Thesystem 502 may also have one or more servers that include the interfaceto receive the request from the seller (e.g., the web server 516 in FIG.5). Many other arrangements are possible.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating information flow amongst entitlesin an electronic publication system 900 in accordance with an exampleembodiments.

An example electronic publication system 900 may observe how communitymembers 901 have classified items 902 (and e.g., see classifications903) and it may determine the success of the classifications 904(discussed above) over a period of time. With this feedback from thecommunity 901 (e.g., the observed data), the modification functionality905 may perform analyses to generate modification data 906 (e.g.,recommended classifications). A modified classification (not shown) mayhelp the community 901 (e.g., a publication originator) accuratelyclassify subject matter or help the community 901 (e.g., a publicationquerier) to find a publication within the system. Since the community'sclassifications 903 (e.g., descriptions of items) may change over time,example embodiments described herein may dynamically evolve accurateitem classifications 903 through community 901 feedback. These accurateitem classifications 903 may increase the frequency of connectionsbetween publications and those querying them.

It is to be appreciated that the network publication system 900 may helpthe community 901 evolve classifications 903 for publications withlittle or no human intervention. Through an iterative process, thesystem 900 may provide increasingly strong modifications by adjustingmodifications based on the popularity (e.g., the acceptance/rejection)of previous modifications.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 1000 inaccordance with example embodiments. Within the computer system 1000 area set of instructions for causing the machine to perform any one or moreof the methodologies discussed herein. In alternative exampleembodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in server-client network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. Themachine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a PDA, a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router,switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets)of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The example computer system 1000 includes a processor 1002 (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 1004 and a static memory 1006, which communicatewith each other via a bus 1008. The computer system 1000 may furtherinclude a video display unit 1010 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD)or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 1000 also includes analphanumeric input device 1012 (e.g., a keyboard), a user interface (UI)navigation device 1014 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 1016, a signalgeneration device 1018 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device1020.

The disk drive unit 1016 includes a machine-readable medium 1022 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures(e.g., software 1024) embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The software 1024 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1004and/or within the processor 1002 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 1000, the main memory 1004 and the processor 1002 alsoconstituting machine-readable media.

The software 1024 may further be transmitted or received over a network1026 via the network interface device 1020 utilizing any one of a numberof well-known transfer protocols (e.g., file transfer protocol (FTP)).

While the machine-readable medium 1022 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should betaken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralizedor distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) thatstore the one or more sets of instructions. The term “machine-readablemedium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by themachine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the present invention, or that is capable of storing,encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with sucha set of instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-statememories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wave signals.

Electronic publication systems having a community of users such as thosedescribed in the example embodiments above may observe the community'spreferred classifications of items over a period of time. With itsobservation, the electronic publication system may collect and recommendthe historically most successful classifications for and item.Modifications may help publishers correctly classify the subject matterof their publications or help a community member find a publication.Since the community's preferred classifications may change over time,embodiments may dynamically evolve classifications and may improveconnection between publications and those searching for them.

Example embodiments of electronic publications systems described hereinmay decentralize the assignment of classifiers to items within theelectronic publication systems. Instead of the electronic publicationsystem classifying items, community users are enabled to classify theirown items or items they wish to locate. The electronic publicationsystem may provide recommended classifications through analysis, basedon its accumulation of historical community behavior.

Thus, a method and system for providing modification data to describe anitem has been described. It is to be understood that the abovedescription is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Someexample embodiments are disclosed with respect to a particulartechnological environment and demonstrate a particular aspect. Otherembodiments will be apparent in other technological environments and maydemonstrate other aspects. Many other embodiments will be apparent tothose of skill in the art upon reading and understanding the abovedescription. The scope should, therefore, be determined with referenceto the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents towhich such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving proposedpublication data describing an item to be published to a publicationsystem; generating a success measurement indicating demand associatedwith at least one past publication related to the item of the proposedpublication data; generating, using a processor of a machine,modification data for modifying the proposed publication data, themodification data being based on the success measurement and theproposed publication data; and providing the modification data to adevice of an originator of the proposed publication data.